Renowned neurosurgeon-turned-Republican-candidate Dr. Ben Carson scolded the media for twisting his words in pursuit of “ratings” and “conflict.”

“I think that they’re looking for ratings, they’re always looking for conflict,” Dr. Carson said in a radio interview with his longtime friend and business manager Armstrong Williams. “Conflict gets them more ratings than peace and joy.”

Carson’s contention came after a Bloomberg Politics breakfast on Wednesday where he said Williams is “not necessarily the epitome of truth,” according to POLITICO.

“I heard about your press conference this morning,” Williams said to his friend of 20 years. “I don’t know why people get a kick out of taking your words and interpreting them for you.”

In the short span since Carson’s comments became public, the media have used the GOP contender’s words to bludgeon him.

“The sinking of Ben Carson,” was the headline that the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart ran with, writing, “The Iowa caucuses are just four days away. Four days from when the people of the Hawkeye State do for Carson what he won’t do himself: pull the plug on his campaign.”

Carson, for his part, would still much rather talk about how his philosophy and policy can help address the diminishing “spiritual life, patriotism, and morality” in America that has hurt blacks the most.

“Those are the things that got the black community through slavery, through Jim Crow, through segregation and racism,” Carson said on Williams’ radio show. “As those things began to unravel, look at what happened to the black community.”